I was watching a show on castles on History Channel, and they said something that really stuck with me: “Castles were some of the most imposing structures ever built and they inspired awe in the population.” I was immediately transported back to York, England, back in 2001.

We’d been in England for four days, spending three of them in London. I’d seen Westminster Cathedral, Buckminster Palace, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge – all of them structures of impressive grandeur full of history. But I had taken them all in stride, something I attribute to the general “wow-I’m-in-Europe” factor. Then we took a train ride north to York, and the moment I entered the city through its medieval gate, something shifted. As we later walked up the main street and York Minster Cathedral came into view, I had to stop; I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, couldn’t do anything but stare. I was in awe.

Awe is a feeling of wonder, reverence, amazement and/or dread (or more accurately, all those at the same time) experienced when in the presence of something that transcends us. In looking at York Minster, I suddenly realized I was standing in front of a 500-year old structure (and that’s only in its finalized form; parts of it date back another 200 to 300 years), in a town that is still surrounded by its original medieval gate, in York, in Europe. I saw York Minster not as a tourist, but for a fleeting moment, as one of the lowly residents of the city must have back in the 1400′s, imagining this imposing structure rising into the heavens, one of the largest buildings I would ever seen in my toil-heavy life. It inspired awe, in all its connotations, and I was so thankful for that wonderful moment that lasted maybe a couple of minutes yet remains one of my most treasured memories of all my travels.

Awe is not something we get to experience a lot on our daily lives, but I have found that travel comes with a healthy supply of it. I experienced it various times after than in Europe; later in Ireland looking over the Cliffs of Moher and the Giant’s Causeway; in Paris, the Netherlands and Belgium; and even in Seattle, especially in the Olympic Peninsula, at the top of Hurricane Ridge. Pure awe, the kind that shuts down your conscious mind and simply lets you absorb the grandness of what you’re witnessing. When we travel we are removed from our familiar surroundings, out of our element; this lowers the barriers and makes us vulnerable to moments of wonder. Be on the lookout for such moments and when they happen, surrender to them.

I have managed to bring that ability back home with me as well. It doesn’t happen all the time, but I am open to it and have experienced it in the form of a beautiful sunrise glimpsed while riding my bike or when contemplating the city skyline from afar. When you travel, leave your jadedness at home and be open to awe, and when you get home, do your best to retain that ability. You will see your home in a whole new way.

In Your Games

There is nothing that annoys me more than having a fantastic description of a site, like a castle or a large cathedral or a majestic spaceship, to be brushed aside by jaded gamers. These characters you are playing are seeing something that may be of an unique nature, I try to remind them. Even characters that are exposed to certain situations on a daily basis–nobles that know a castle inside and out, a spaceship captain that has seen dozens of different ships of all shapes and sizes–experience moments of awe. Perhaps the noble has never seen this side of the castle, or precisely because she knows them so well, this new one they are visiting impresses her so much. The starship captain may have seen a lot, but that new prototype spaceship makes him look out the transport window, completely ignoring his officers.

Bring awe back into your character’s portrayal. If playing a fantasy game, unless you are a world-weary adventurer, monsters, magic and imposing structures will have an effect on you! It doesn’t mean your character stands catatonic like I did in York when he sees an orc for the first time, but a dragon? You bet. A wizard casting a gigantic fireball spell? Yup. The king’s three-times-as-big-as-those-in-the-real-world castle with towers rising a mile into the air and squads of griffin riders patrolling? If you don’t roleplay the awe, you are doing a disservice to yourself, your Game Master and the game.